When you first start out in life, the question you should ask yourself is “how much should I save?” It is a question to answer by considering all your savings options for retirement – like a company plan that matches a percentage of your savings.

Summer is a great time to build your child’s money savviness. Here are 6 tips to help you take advantage of the slower pace of what’s left of summer to help your child learn more about money:

1. Teach choice. Introduce the four choices for money (save, spend, donate and invest) to your child this summer using a divided bank like our Money Savvy Pigor a set of jars – one for each money choice. These visual reminders of thechoices a child has each and every time they have money to work with will teach them that there is more to do with money than just spend.

In 1999, my husband Michael and I started Money Savvy Generation to help teach kids about money – starting in our daughter Allison’s first grade classroom. Now in her twenties, Allison is putting into practice many of the money tips I shared with her growing up. I asked her what advice and tools she values most now as a working adult. Here is her response – in her words – and a link to a video with my top 5 money tips to help you teach your own kids about money. Enjoy!

Walter Isaacson, author of “Steve Jobs,” reportedly clocked a lot of time at the Jobs’ family home, giving him the opportunity to observe Jobs’s parenting priorities. “Every evening Steve made a point of having dinner at the big long table in their kitchen, discussing books and history and a variety of things,” Isaacson explained. “No one ever pulled out an iPad or computer. The kids did not seem addicted at all to devices.”

Dinnertime is a window of opportunity to reach your kids that most parents undervalue.

About Susan

A sought-after speaker for financial institutions, state regulatory agencies, trade associations, leadership conferences and schools, she is the creator of the Money Savvy Pig piggy bank-- the centerpiece of the Money Savvy Kids Basic Personal Finance Curriculum.